


The Other Side of the Coin

by chalice_asunder



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (1963)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-12
Updated: 2020-03-20
Packaged: 2021-02-28 17:27:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 10,744
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23120989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chalice_asunder/pseuds/chalice_asunder
Summary: The Master comes to her world for an ancient artefact, and leaves it a burning ruin. When he offers to save her life in exchange for her loyalty, she accepts.
Comments: 5
Kudos: 4





	1. One

**Author's Note:**

> This is a repost of a very, very old fanfic (almost fifteen years old in fact). It's one I've always loved, but felt incredibly self-conscious posting. Fandom, I think, has become kinder in the intervening years about OCs, but this is still something I'm happier giving its own pseudononymous space to. This is a slightly cleaned up version, I didn't want to change too much, just smooth it over, remove a few rough edges and lines I didn't like, that sort of thing.
> 
> The Doctor and Jo do show up later but this is very much a Delgado!Master fic.

Senator Aulkona stood on the balcony overlooking the burning capitol. In the distance screams punctuated the unrelenting sound of weapons’ fire, and buildings crumbled to the ground. The air was choked with thick smoke and five floors up from the ground, it swirled around Aulkona in a dark fury.

Across the bridge, a crowd approached; angry and filled with violence, the last exhalation of a dying civilisation. Soon they would reach the government buildings, and Aulkona had no illusions about what they would do when they found her.

There was a movement behind her. She didn’t bother to turn around.

“I would have thought you’d be long gone, Professor,” she said.

“And miss this?” The voice was rich and warm, and perhaps a little amused. Aulkona turned to see Keller standing in the middle of the room, cool and unruffled, a faint smile on his face.

“You like it,” said Aulkona, studying him. “You are actually enjoying watching my world burn.” She sounded disbelieving, but inside she felt as though she had finally unearthed a truth about this alien who had been so eager to help when her civilisation stood on the brink.

She took a step forward, and noted the wariness on the Professor’s face. She had nothing to lose, she realised, and so, evidently, did he. There was no reason for her not to try and kill him.

Instead, she sat back in her customary chair, and surveyed her office with a strange, detached calm. Now that the inevitable was here, all her fears seemed to have evaporated. “Is this what you wanted?” she asked the Professor, suddenly curious.

He smiled and took the seat opposite her.

“Not at all,” he said. “Any advancements I gave you were intended for your benefit. I could have made use of a grateful population. Instead, your greed destroyed you. Petty factions battling for petty scraps of land and the little knowledge that I offered.”

She leaned forward. “Are you a god?”

He blinked, startled for a moment, before he burst into easy laughter. “Oh, my dear Senator, you must control these superstitious beliefs of yours.”

“Then what are you?”

“Does it matter?”

Aulkona looked away, her gaze drawn back to the balcony, and she heard the rioters, closer now, screaming obscenities. “I suppose not.”

She stood and reached for the knife carefully tucked away inside her senatorial robes. It was an ornate thing, meant for ceremony only. It had never occurred to her that she might actually use it in violence. Her fingers slipped along the blade.

“I’ve been told it was traditional for a disgraced aristocrat to stab herself.” She glanced at him. “But I’m too much of a coward, I’m afraid. I think it might be easier to throw myself from the balcony.”

The Professor tutted quietly. “Wasteful, Senator.”

“When that crowd find me, they’ll tear me limb from limb. Frankly I’d rather do the job myself.”

“You could survive this. Nothing is forcing you to remain in this building.”

“No? And where would I go? What would I do? I’ll not live as a hunted animal.” She stood up and brushed down her robes. “I intend to honour my oath to the Senate.”

“By nobly flinging yourself from its walls? How melodramatic. I hardly think you’ll be protecting your world by staining the courtyard with your remains.”

“You’re welcome to leave.” She paused, considering. “Why are you still here? If they find you, they won’t hesitate to kill you too.”

“I have my own means of leaving this world.”

“So what are you waiting for? Or do you wish to watch me die?”

The Professor leaned back in his chair, regarding her with a cool gaze. “I had intended to take you with me.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Did you indeed?”

“I have expended a great deal of time and effort on this world, and although the aesthetic outside is amusing enough, it’s still a poor return on my investment.”

“So I’m a commodity,” she muttered. Her eyes narrowed. “And you think you can buy me.”

“Do you think that the handful of planets your people have visited is all there is out there? I can travel anywhere in space, anywhere in time. I have the complete freedom of the universe. And I can take you with me.”

Aulkona met his gaze, aware of how persuasive his voice and his words were, and aware of her own weakness to the offer not merely of survival, but of a life worth living.

Another temptation, another test, but all she could lose this time was her life, and if she stayed then that was certainly forfeit.

“What do you want in return?”

“Your loyalty, your obedience.” The Professor stood up and stepped forward.

As he approached her, Aulkona was suddenly afraid, and wondered how she could never have noticed his eyes before and the way that they burned. And there was more: his voice, his posture had changed, so subtly, but it was as though a mask had been discarded, revealing something immensely alien and immensely powerful.

“I want your oath, Senator. Pledge yourself to me as you pledged yourself to your fallen Senate, and I will save you.”

She looked away; he waited.

“You have my oath,” she told him. Life or death. It was such a simple choice to make.

#

Aulkona knew that the Professor was from a civilisation far in advance of her own, that much had been obvious from the start, but stepping into his spaceship still took her breath away. All those months that the Professor had been working in the government labs and nobody had noticed that one of the storage units was an alien spacecraft, one capable of travelling through time and space. A TARDIS, the Professor called it.

While she stared around, trying to fathom what allowed the ship to be bigger on the inside than the outside, the Professor worked at the central console. After a moment the central rotor began to rise and fall. Just as quickly, it stopped.

“Just a short trip for now,” he said, and opened the doors.

She looked around as they stepped outside, eager to see how far they had travelled.

“But this is the capital’s museum,” she exclaimed, her attention caught by the smashed glass and broken exhibits.

“Correct. There is an artefact I wish to retrieve before we depart.”

Aulkona shook her head. “What could we possibly have that would be of use to you?”

“You wouldn’t recognise its value.”

They walked through several chambers, some with their displays almost wholly intact, before the Professor found what he was looking for. He stopped outside a sealed glass cabinet and, taking an instrument from inside his tunic, neatly cut a hole in the glass.

The small stone tablet that he retrieved from within was unimpressive.

“If that’s what you wanted, why didn’t you just take it?” asked Aulkona. There had been security at the museum, of course, but with the use of a machine that could materialise anywhere they would hardly have been effective. Besides that, she knew full well the Professor had no compunction about killing to get what he wanted.

“Because, Senator, that would have been exceedingly dull. Your people proved a most entertaining diversion.”

She looked away, looked outside. She wasn’t comfortable with her feelings; she knew that she should hate this man, for what he had done to her and her world, but instead she was ashamed, of herself, of her people. They had chosen to accept his help, and they had fought over its fruits.

“Are all species as…short-sighted as we were?” she asked quietly.

The Professor gave her a look somewhere between sympathy and contempt. “There are a great many eager for knowledge that they’re not ready for. In fact, our next stop is a world that is a step away from destroying itself with its petty little disputes. The natives call it Earth.”


	2. Two

The Master found Leto in the first floor drawing room, staring out the window. It was raining again, and she never seemed to tire of watching the precipitation fall. It was a tiresome habit and one that caused her to become easily distracted from her work.

He coughed lightly and she spun around, glanced guiltily at the papers on the desk. “I’m sorry, I…”

He held up a hand, not wishing to hear any feeble excuses. “Have you located a suitable target?” he asked. 

She nodded. “In one of their northern settlements. It’s from the correct time period and has parts of the inscription you’re looking for.” She took her paper from the table and handed it to him. “But I don’t understand what this has to do with finding your actual target.”

The Master raised his eyes from the paper, looked at her for a long moment. She was uncomfortable under his gaze, and he had noticed she was becoming less and less able to maintain the cool emotionless façade that she had perfected on her home planet. Stress, of course, and perhaps elements of shock settling in. The planet itself was affecting her too: Earth was overpopulated, and Leto’s people were naturally empathic. Even in the isolated house they occupied, the sheer number of people on the planet meant she was constantly aware of the seething mass of humanity.

She had not asked a question, so he did not have to refuse an answer. She had been willing to come with him, willing to work, but now that she had escaped from the devastation of her home planet, he was unsure how she would react to a new world, one where she might imagine she could start a new life. Information was the key to control, and so far he’d told her only what she needed to know.

“I am seeking to attract the interest of a group that operate in this county. And one individual in particular,” he told her.

She shook her head. “But why?”

“My dear Leto, that would take some time to explain. Suffice to say that when I take the artefact from this miserable little planet, I want him to know it was I who stole it and that there was nothing that he could do to stop me.”

She almost covered the reaction to the use of her name. Her people had some strange ideas regarding names, what they meant, how they should be used. It amused him to see how unnerved she was simply by the use of her first name. It was considered a far more intimate act on her world than many others, and his casual use of it served as a constant reminder of all that she had lost.

She didn’t inquire further, and he wondered whether it was political skill or simply caution that allowed her to determine when to speak and when to drop a point.

“Come with me,” he ordered.

They walked downstairs. The house had three floors, not including the cellar, which boasted an impressive selection of wine that the Master had made generous use of. It was an old country seat, with big draughty rooms and solid ancient furnishings. The owner, a doddering old man by the name of Percival Baldwin, had left the country for several months to go on an expedition in the Amazon. His sense of security could easily be calculated by a quick look in the garage where he had seen fit to leave two classic cars with the keys kept by the front door of the house. It was a perfect base of operations for the Master.

On the ground floor he unlocked the library and pushed the door open, inviting Leto to enter first.

Inside, every wall was covered with books, neatly stacked, most leather bound. It was a beautiful collection. Across the centre of the room ran a long conference table and round the edges sofas and armchairs softened the heavy wooden panelling and beams overhead.

“This,” said the Master, waving a gloved hand at the nearest shelf, “is probably the best that humanity has to offer. As a species, they are lamentable, but they have produced the occasional acceptable writer across the millennia.”

“This is how they store their information?” asked Leto, taking a book from the shelf at random and flicking through it.

“For most of their history. This century they have managed a primitive form of computer technology. Now listen; it is very likely that you will have to pass as a human at some point in the next few weeks. It isn’t enough to look like one, you will have to act like one too. Read, and learn the best of what humanity has to offer. There’ll be a television set around here somewhere, where you can learn the worst. There is a great deal more of that.”

“Where will you be?” asked Leto mildly, glancing cautiously up from her book.

“I shall be conducting another little trip. One more breadcrumb for my dear old friend to dutifully follow.”

With that, he left the room and Leto sat down to read. Since she had left her homeworld a strange sort of blankness had clouded her mind. It was easy to function, easy to accomplish tasks that had been set and the Master had had no shortage of those. She knew that she should grieve, but that would be impossible for now. She never knew how long she had alone, and for him to find her in that vulnerable state was unacceptable. 

From having all the choices in the world, she had come to having none at all, if she wanted to live. And she did so very much want to live. A desperate, pitiable sort of existence, she mused, but at least she had some little luxuries. This world boasted a vast array of foodstuffs, and she wondered if the other aspects of human life matched that variety, if only she were allowed to go and find out.

Allowed. How bitter she found that word. But she knew how ruthless Keller was. It had been a horrific situation those last few days on homeworld. The civil unrest had burned whole cities before its wrath, and she had ordered extreme measures to control the situation. Measures which, in the end, had merely hastened the world’s destruction. There had been objections, of course, and a slew of assassinations in the senior echelons of government. Leto knew which ones she had ordered, and which ones she suspected the good Professor of carrying out. The only thing that had kept her safe was her constant support of his research.

There would be people left, perhaps, in the rubble, a natural immunity was not impossible in a minute percentage of the population. Strange sort of thing to hope, she thought, perhaps it would be better that they were all dead. 

When Keller returned he was in an uncharacteristically good mood, and Leto wondered who had paid for that. He came into the library with a tray carrying a strangely shaped pot and two mugs.

He caught Leto’s curious look and said, “Tea, my dear. An Earth delicacy and arguably the single most important contribution they have made to the galaxy. Does any of this catch your interest?” he asked, indicating the books.

“I understand that these are all fiction,” said Leto carefully. “But I would very much like a frame of reference as to which stories have some bearing to reality or are there really humans no taller than a thumb?”

“Ah,” said the Master, arching an eyebrow, pouring the tea. “An excellent point. Perhaps you’ve been too cooped up here. I shall take you with me tomorrow to retrieve my artefact. UNIT seems to have finally caught on to the unusual nature of the break-ins, and the Doctor will be following straight behind them.”


	3. Three

It was a conceit to conduct the raid in daytime, thought Leto. But she had found Keller to be an extraordinarily conceited individual, and duly noted the weakness as she would for a political rival. Exploiting it, on the other hand, was something she’d no intention of doing. 

They raced along country roads at a breakneck speed, Keller steering the car easily with one hand. They met few other vehicles on their journey and soon found their way to a small habitation of a few dozen buildings. It was, she thought, rather pretty, and she spent her time eagerly looking at everything unfamiliar to her, but decided it best not to ask questions. Earth was bright and wet and green, and so much noisier than anywhere else she had ever been. She had a desire to explore, but kept it carefully hidden.

Their target was to one end of the village, off a little side road. It was nothing at all like Leto had expected: an unremarkable building, unguarded and not a single person in sight. The humans clearly didn’t realise the value of what they had stored within. She almost regretted how easy this would be.

They left the car in the driveway and entered the building. It was as quiet inside as out, perhaps a half dozen visitors. It would be easy enough to use violence, but Keller had been adamant: he wanted a more elegant sign that he had been here than a building full of bodies. His preference was to leave the classic car outside, and wait for UNIT to trace its origin. Even they, he’d stated, couldn’t possibly fail to understand such an obvious hint.

Leto stood back, observing the people here, curious. They appeared interested enough in the exhibits, all apparently connected to local history. To take pride in one’s history was something she approved of, and she knew then that she could not share Keller’s disdain for the people of this world. She found their literature insightful, their food endlessly fascinating, and she so very much wanted to talk to one of them.

She glanced back at the reception desk to see that Keller had found it a simple matter to dominate the mind of the man there. His gaze was blank and he was being subjected to a swift interrogation. Leto suppressed a shudder. It was nothing new to her, few on her own planet had been able to resist Keller’s hypnosis and those who had generally reduced their life expectancy to scant minutes.

Nobody noticed a thing out of place as they walked through the exhibits, stopping at a glass case of Roman artefacts. Leto noted the map by the casing, illustrating the extent of this old empire’s reach, and quickly read the inscription beneath it. Keller ordered the man, the curator, to unlock the case and fetch a box for storage.

“We have to take them all?” asked Leto.

“Unless you can determine which of these pieces have been subject to massive gravitational forces merely by looking at them, yes.”

Leto looked in the case, carefully examining each object. Some stone, some metal. Coinage, she realised, remembering how they had exhibited similar pieces of old currency on her own world. 

“Are these considered valuable here?”

“Not particularly. They date from some two thousand years ago, from a civilisation that is considered one of the greatest in the planet’s history. These are common enough remnants.”

“Except your artefact.”

“Naturally.”

The curator returned, carrying a lined and lockable box. He placed it in front of the cabinet and Keller dismissed him with a movement of his hand. 

Quickly, the artefacts were wrapped in packing materials and placed securely in the storage box. It wasn’t particularly heavy once full, but Keller still summoned the curator back to carry it for them. Leto found it astonishing that none of the patrons noticed anything wrong with this. No questions, no enquiries. An apathy, she wondered, or was this removal of artefacts considered normal here?

Once outside the museum, it was a simple matter for Keller to exert his force of will over the driver of a passing car, forcing one to pull up. The box was placed safely in the boot of the car before Keller and Leto were chauffeured away.

Presently they arrived back at the country house, and the driver was allowed to depart. The rest of the day was taken up setting up Keller’s equipment in the cellar. This was where they had arrived in the house and it didn’t take Leto long to notice that something very important was missing.

“Where’s the TARDIS?” she asked, not looking up as she took chemical after chemical from the box. Running her eye over the equipment, she noted how primitive it seemed and guessed it was either another sign of Keller’s arrogance or he did not want to risk giving the humans advanced technology that might be used against him.

“Perfectly safe.”

She risked a glance at him, but he didn’t seem incensed, despite the mild tone which she knew to be dangerous. “Even if I wanted to steal it, I wouldn’t know how.”

Keller stopped what he was doing. “An underestimation, I feel. You could probably have it take-off through sheer perseverance. Nevertheless, that is not the reason I moved it. I cannot risk it falling into UNIT’s hands, or the Doctor’s, if I am found before I intend to be.”

“They’ve met you before then?”

He gave a smile that chilled her. “Many times. The Doctor has a penchant for this world.”

“Is that why you hate it?”

“I don’t recall expressing any such sentiment to you. Derision, perhaps.”

“But you do hate it,” insisted Leto.

“Can you feel that then?” he asked her. 

She shook her head. “No. No, when I look at you, there’s nothing. It’s like you’re an illusion.”

“Your empathic abilities are primitive. In a few millennia your species might have developed a skill worth having.”

Leto swallowed, tried not to see the burning city behind her eyes, the corpses strewn in the streets. The images were harsh and vivid enough for her to smell the burning flesh, hear the screams.

She returned her attention to the chemicals, but Keller moved to stop her, grasping her wrist in his gloved hand. She looked up, into his eyes, and felt the power behind them.

“You don’t have to remember,” he told her gently. “I can take it away; you can be free of it.”

She shook her head. “No.”

“You won’t even know that they’re gone.”

“No,” she repeated. “I need those memories. Please.” 

He held her gaze another long moment, and then he nodded and let her go. Neither spoke again as they finished unpacking the equipment.


	4. Four

As far as the Master was concerned, UNIT was a clumsy operation at best and they certainly had no sense of subtlety. The alarm that he had rigged round the perimeter of the estate was a simple affair and yet they stumbled into it as slow-wittedly as any other animal.

It was not the Doctor arriving, but a soldier. If UNIT were aware that the Master was here, they would certainly not have sent just one man, and the Doctor would undoubtedly have insisted that he tag along.

They were still investigating, even with numerous witnesses to yesterday’s theft. The Master sighed, glanced over at the second bench. At least that project was complete, a little surprise for the Doctor for when he did finally turn up. The artefact, on the other hand, was proving difficult to identify. There were several dozen pieces that were showing the correct deterioration patterns. It seemed that instead of continuing to mimic the pieces around it, the artefact had decided it was easier to hide its own pattern by making everything around it share a similar one.

The Master put down his tools and went upstairs to find Leto. She would have to get rid of the soldier.

He did not believe that she would betray him, not at this juncture. Nevertheless, he did not tell her that he would be listening from the behind the connecting door to the front reception room, nor did he tell her that he had every intention of killing her if she let drop the least hint about his presence in the house.

The van had stopped outside the house, and the engine turned off.

“You know what you have to do?”

Leto nodded, and when the doorbell rang, the Master stepped out of sight.

As she opened the door, she seemed to fall into character. “Good morning,” she said brightly, speaking in a perfect BBC English accent. “Can I help you, ah, Corporal?”

“Captain,” corrected the soldier. “Captain Yates. And yes, madam, I’d like to ask you a few questions if that’s alright? May I come in?”

“Oh, of course.” Leto stood aside and led the way through to the front room. “Do have a seat, Captain. Can I get you anything? Tea? Coffee?”

“No, thank you.” He sat gingerly on the edge of one of the chairs. “Tell me, do you live alone here?”

“I don’t usually live here at all. It isn’t my house, Captain. But Percy’s away in the Amazon, and I did want a bit of a holiday. It’s lovely countryside, makes a nice change.”

“But you’re alone here?”

“Yes.” She settled back more comfortably in the couch. “What is this about, Captain?”

“There was a break-in at the local museum yesterday afternoon. A car registered to Sir Percival Baldwin was found outside.”

Leto’s eyes widened. “I say, are you sure?”“Quite sure, madam.”

“How strange. Well, I’ve only been here a few days, but I didn’t notice any disturbances on the grounds.” She leaned forward, dropped her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “Truthfully, Captain, Percy never was much good about security and the like. I mean, when I arrived the garage wasn’t even locked.” She shook her head. “Not even a gardener to take care of the grounds in his absence either.”

“No visitors to the house?”

“None at all. I just wanted some peace and quiet for a few weeks.” She frowned. “This does seem a strange thing for the army to be concerned with though. Isn’t this police work?”

“Under normal circumstances, yes.”

“What makes this abnormal?”

“I’m afraid that’s classified.”

“Ah, well, there’s a pity. It’s obviously terribly important; I’m sorry I can’t be of more help.” She stood up. “Very nice to meet you, Captain.”  
He took a pen and paper from his pocket. “Yes, well, if you do recall anything unusual happening, or if you get any visitors, any at all, please call the number.” He and scribbled down the number before tearing the sheet of paper off and handing it to her.

“Of course.”

He nodded, and headed back to the front door. “I’m so sorry,” he said, turning back just as he opened the door. “I never even asked your name.”

“Leto,” she said. “Leto Aulkona.”

“Unusual.”

“It’s Greek,” she said. “Goodbye, Captain.”

“Goodbye, Miss Aulkona.”

She shut the door firmly behind him, then waited until she heard footsteps walking away before locking the door.

As the van pulled out of the grounds, and turned to race back down the country road, the Master reappeared.

“My dear, for your first time, that was a marvellous performance.”

“He was suspicious. I matched the description the witnesses had given him.”

“Well, obviously. But it’s hardly conclusive evidence. Did he believe you?”

“He wanted to.”

“Well, perhaps that will give us a little time.” He half-turned away, before remembering something. “You told him your name.”

“He asked.”

“I very much doubt they’ll find a match in their records.”

Leto closed her eyes, suddenly looking very tired. “What was I supposed to say?”

“Something a little more, ah, British, perhaps?”

“On my world, lying about one’s name was…not acceptable.”

“We’re on Earth now, my dear.” There was a note of warning in voice.

“I’m sorry; it won’t happen again.”

“I doubt it will matter.” He opened the door that led down to the cellar.

“Who was he?” she asked. “You knew him. Or he knew you. Else you could have spoken to him yourself.”

“I’m quite sure that every soldier in UNIT is familiar with my appearance,” he said, disappearing down into the cellar.

He heard her come down the stairs after him, and expected more questions. He glanced up at her as she sat at the other side of the work bench. “I am trying to perform a very complex analysis, I cannot have distractions.”

She didn’t move. “I want to learn.”

He sighed softly, turned back to his work. “Then be still, stay quiet, and watch.”

Leto did as she was told, and the Master found such an eager observer rather flattering to his ego. He began to explain what he was doing and why, careful to keep the explanations suitable for the stage of development that her civilisation had reached.

She asked sensible questions, cautious in her enquiries at first, but more enthusiastic as the day wore on. Studiously, she avoided questions about the artefact itself, and the Master realised that she really didn’t want to know what it was for, what it would give him. Her conscience was bothering her, and perhaps not knowing allowed her to project whatever she liked onto the purpose of this search.

Frustration welled within him. The analysis was both delicate and tedious, and though he could work through the night the thought certainly did not appeal. If only the Doctor would hurry up, he could be done with this round of the game; take a half-hearted swipe at his old friend and go to a more hospitable planet. To leave Earth without making sure the Doctor knew he had been there…why that would simply be bad manners. He needed that satisfaction of knowing that the Doctor knew he’d been beaten, that these human pets of his had suffered, that he had gained something.

He looked at Leto, who seemed to be growing ever more tired. She would be of no use to him exhausted.

“Go and get some sleep.”

She nodded and stood up, stretching her arms. “Good night,” she said.


	5. Five

UNIT returned far more quickly than the Master had expected. Only a few minutes after he believed that he’d identified the correct artefact taken from the museum, his scanner picked up another van approaching the house, and this time it was clear they were there for more than a polite questioning: three armed soldiers got out of the vehicle, their weapons drawn. 

Leto had obviously noticed as well, and he heard her quick footsteps upstairs. She ran down the stairs to the cellar, pale but composed.

“What do you want me to do?”

“Stall them,” ordered the Master. “If they split up, attempt to incapacitate them.”

“What about you?”

He turned to face her. “You’re concerned for my safety?” She didn’t answer. “Yes, I can see that you are. Has it occurred to you that if UNIT capture me, then you’ll be free?”

“I gave you my word. I do not know your people, but on my world that is not done lightly.”

“Your world is dead.”

“Why are you trying to anger me?”

He sighed, and took another glance at the scanner. They’d only a few moments before the soldiers arrived. “Perhaps because I find your concern puzzling, my dear. I’m quite capable of taking care of myself. Now, please, go and greet our guests.” As she ascended the stairs, he called after her, “And remember, you are a British citizen who finds this violation of her rights quite appalling.”

-

Leto didn’t get the chance to open the door. Captain Yates and the two soldiers accompanying him simply walked into the house. She remembered her accent, her poise, and strode into the hallway in a fury.

“How dare you! You’re aware this is private property?”

“Madam, this is a matter of national security,” answered the Captain.

“Does that mean that a warrant is not required? Captain, I want the name of your commanding officer, and I want to know what you are doing in this house without permission.”

“We do have permission. From Sir Percival Baldwin.” He took a step towards her and Leto glanced at the revolver he was carrying. “And he’s never heard of you. Nor did he expect to hear that anyone was staying in his home.”

“There must be some sort of mistake,” tried Leto.

“I’m afraid not. Now, things will be a great deal easier for you if you co-operate.”

Leto folded her arms, turned away from him.

“We know you’re not here alone. We found the driver that you convinced to take you back here. We know that you’re working with the Master.”

Leto gave him a dispassionate glance. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Where is he?”

“I’m the only occupant of this house, Captain.” She spoke quite calmly, but was disturbed by what she felt from Yates at that moment: a sudden, violent stab of hate.

He glanced at one of the soldiers. The shorter one, with fair hair and a snub nose. “Search the house,” he ordered. “And be careful.” 

Leto held her breath, but the soldier walked towards the stairway, not the cellar.

When she looked back to Yates he was watching her, studying her, but she met his eyes unflinchingly. “The telephone, please,” he said.

She shrugged. “If you insist.”

The closest telephone was located in the library opposite, but since the Captain didn’t know that, she didn’t tell him. Instead she took the corridor towards the kitchen. It turned a corner twice before it ended, and she thought that would give her enough of an opportunity.

The first turn took them out of sight of the guard. She glanced behind her; Yates had drawn the revolver. It was a precaution, nothing more; she felt no fear from him, no sense that he considered her a real threat. 

Leto moved round the second corner a fraction more quickly, using her speed and body to hide the fact that she’d grabbed a vase from the side-table in the corridor. 

She adjusted her footing and in a single smooth movement swung around and slammed the ornament into the Captain’s face. His eyes went wide and he collapsed to the floor. 

The gun had fallen from his grasp and she scooped it up, checking with a glance that he was still alive. She aimed the gun, but hesitated to press the trigger. Killing him would serve no purpose. He was unconscious and would be so for some time.

Quickly, Leto made her way back to the front door; the soldier there was already dead. Keller, of course. He would have gone to deal with the one upstairs; she could wait. Or she could run. There was a vehicle outside. She’d seen it operated, it wouldn’t be impossible to drive. 

But where could she go? She knew little of this world and, for Keller, betrayal was a mortal sin. If he ever saw her again, he would kill her. 

Leto went through to the front room, waited for Keller. A few minutes past before she heard him at the door, pushing it open.

“Where is Captain Yates?”

“Unconscious. Near the kitchen.” Leto turned, and raised her gun. Keller wasn’t armed, but that gave her little confidence. “Who are you?”

His eyes narrowed. “Do I detect a change in loyalties?”

“Tell me!” She brought a second hand up to the gun, steadying her aim. “He didn’t call you Keller. And he hated you. Hate, like poison; it was so dark, so putrid. What did you do to him?”

“A lot less than what I did to you.”

“We made our own mistakes, and we paid for them.”

“What a noble sentiment,” he sneered, stepping towards her.

She backed away, still pointing the gun at him. “What are you?”

“I am a Time Lord.” As he spoke, she saw it again, the power, the alienness of him. “My true name is the Master.” She didn’t move as he approached her, as he reached out and took the gun from her unresisting hands. “That was a very foolish thing to do, Leto. But you have served me well, so I’ll allow you this single mistake.” He reached out to grasp her hair at the nape of her neck, and pulled her head back, forcing her to look at him. “You may thank me for my mercy.”

“Thank you,” she whispered.

His grip on her hair tightened. “From now on you will address me properly. Try again.”

She forced herself to speak again. “Thank you, Master.”

He smiled in grim satisfaction. “Much better.”

-

The Master left Captain Yates tied up in the cellar with a meticulously set-up poison gas bomb. It would seep slowly into the cellar, only releasing lethal amounts of gas when the door was opened. 

To the Master’s delight, it seemed that the Doctor had finally shown some interest in UNIT’s investigation. As the second car, filled with the Master’s equipment, pulled out of the driveway and proceeded along the back road out of the estate, the scanner that Leto was checking identified a ridiculous yellow car heading towards the house.

“It’s a shame I won’t be able to say hello,” said the Master. “But there’ll always be another time.”

The Master’s pleasure was, however, short-lived.

It seemed that UNIT had not been quite so complacent as he had believed and a few minutes after making it to a main road, he noticed that they were being followed. He switched their route, changing back to country roads and hoping to lose them in the twists and turns, however their car was not only distinctive but slow, relative to its modern counterpart.

They were going to be caught.

“These humans,” said Leto, “they have a reluctance to kill, don’t they?”

“Not always. But in the case of these particular ones, when presented with a choice, they generally prefer to let even their most implacable enemies live.” They were driving too fast, and even with the Master’s superior hand-eye co-ordination, Leto was afraid that the car would go off the road any moment.

“Then let me jump out. These roads are narrow, and if they don’t wish to run me over they’ll have to stop. It may give you the time you need to return to the TARDIS.”

He glanced at her, frowning. “Is this self-sacrifice or a bid for freedom?”

“If you have another suggestion, I would be happy to follow it.”

He nodded. “Alright, Leto. Wait until we reach a corner, keep your head tucked in and roll when you reach the ground.” They came to a straight and the Master lifted his hand from the gear stick, touched her cheek. “Do not betray me.”

She looked into his eyes. “I won’t.”

She opened the door, but held it pressed against the car, waiting. As the car swerved, she watched the speedometer drop, and then she jumped.

For a moment, she felt nothing, flying through air, then she hit the ground, hard. She rolled, felt her arms cut against the ground as they protected her face. With a gasp, she realised that she had stopped and, using the last of her strength, she pulled herself onto the road.

There were waves of pain and she wondered if she’d broken any bones. She hadn’t heard any cracks, but everything was beginning to look very far away. The UNIT vehicle was drawing closer, she could hear it.

Then everything went black.


	6. Six

When Leto woke, she found herself in a soft warm bed. She kept very still, though she longed to stretch her aching limbs. She sensed there was someone else in the room; no, two people talking together, quietly enough that she could only hear the murmur of their voices, not the words. But she could only sense the emotions of one.

She sat up and looked around. A bright, clean room.

“Ah, you’re awake. Good.” One of the men who had been talking, a soldier. “I’m Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart. This is the Doctor.” He indicated the man next to him.

“Leto.” She stared at the Doctor. “You’re like him. Like the Master.”

The Doctor frowned, sat by the bed. “We’re of the same species, my dear. How did you know?”

She hesitated, before deciding the truth was best. “I’m empathic, but I can’t see your mind at all. It’s a little frightening.”

He reached out and clasped one of her hands between two of his. “Flesh and blood, just like you.”

“You’re alien then?” said the Brigadier, raising an eyebrow.

“Yes,” she said. “I was brought here, by him.”

“Why? What is the Master doing on Earth?” asked the Brigadier sharply.

“This isn’t an interrogation, Brigadier,” said the Doctor, a note of irritation in his voice.

“Maybe not, Doctor, but we do need to know what he’s up to.” The Brigadier looked back at her, the suspicion bright in his mind.

“I don’t know; I’m sorry.” She closed her eyes for a moment. “I’m so tired.”

“We’ll go soon,” said the Doctor. “But if you manage to answer a few more questions, it really will help.”

She nodded. “All right, I’ll do my best.”

“The Master, do you remember what happened?” asked the Brigadier. “What he was doing?”

She knew how to answer that; Keller…the Master often made sure that victims of his hypnosis didn’t remember what they did under his control. “No.” She frowned, shook her head as though confused. “I can’t remember.” She looked up at the Doctor. “I can’t…why can’t I remember?”

“It’s all right. Don’t worry about it; it’s only to be expected. Can you tell me your homeworld? I may be able to return you there.”

“It doesn’t matter. It’s dead now. Destroyed, all of it.”

When she looked at him, the compassion she saw in his eyes almost convinced her to tell him the truth. “I’m sorry,” he said.

The Brigadier frowned. “The Master did this?”

“Yes,” said Leto, managing to keep her voice steady. There was anger and sympathy in the Brigadier’s mind. He cared; he actually cared.

“I think that’s enough for now,” said the Doctor gently. “We’ll let you rest.”

“Thank you.”

He paused in the doorway and turned back to her. “You’re quite safe here you know,” he said.

She nodded, then lay back down on the bed, curled up beneath the blankets, and tried to sleep.

-

“Doctor, I expected you’d come for a gloat, sooner or later.” The Master stood in his cell, watching the Doctor through the bars. He had spent most of his time pacing, but now he stood perfectly still, hands clasped behind his back.

“That’s more your style,” said the Doctor. “No, I came to ask what you were doing at that house.”

“Do you really expect me to tell you?”

“Not really, but I expect Leto will recover her memory in time. We’ll find out, and whatever you were doing, it’s over now.”

“Ah, so you’ve taken her into your tender care, have you?”

The Doctor’s jaw tightened; he was angry. “You destroyed her world, took her from her planet, and forced her to obey you.”

“I saved her, Doctor,” he said mildly. “If it were not for me, she would be dead.”

“You used her.”

The Master shrugged. “That too.”

“You’ll never learn, will you?” said the Doctor, turning to leave.

“How is the charming Captain Yates?” asked the Master.

The Doctor stopped, gave him a hard look. “Recovering. Though he hasn’t regained consciousness.”

“Ah, well, a miscalculation on my part. I see you are unharmed. How did you escape from my little trap?”

He gave a tight smile. “I’ll let that be something for you to think about while you’re in here.”

-

Later that evening the Doctor returned to the medical wing to visit Leto. Jo followed him in, closing the door softly behind her. They found her awake and sitting up in bed, reading. The colour had returned to her face, though there were still plenty of cuts and bruises visible on her arms.

“How are you feeling?” asked the Doctor, sitting by the bed. Jo brought a chair over and sat next to him.

“Much better, thank you. May I ask what happened to me?”

“We found you lying on the road, unconscious. It seems the Master pushed you from the car.”

“Did he get away?”

“Don’t worry, my dear, we’ve caught him. He’s in a cell downstairs. What I was wondering is what we‘re going to do about you.”

“What do you mean?” asked Leto, drawing back from him.

“No, no, it’s nothing for you to worry about. But if you’ve no home to return to, and you’re trapped on Earth, well, we’ll have to make sure that you have a place here. I don’t think the Brigadier would have any objection to you staying at UNIT, at least in the short term. You’d be safe here, and it would give you time to adjust to Earth culture.”

“That’s very kind of you, Doctor,” she said, though his words sent a shiver through her. The idea of spending the rest of her life on this primitive world unsettled her. Earth was interesting, but it wasn’t home. Sadness lanced through her; she’d never have a home again.

“Can we get you anything?” Jo asked. “I know the food in here isn’t very good.”

“Oh no,” Leto told her, “the food’s far more interesting than what I’m used, but would it be possible to have another book?”

“Yes, of course.” Jo smiled.

“Thank you.”

“If there’s anything else we can do,” said the Doctor.

Again, there was that compassion in his eyes. She looked away. “That’s very thoughtful,” she said. “but I’m quite all right.”

As they left, Leto fell back against her pillow, closing her eyes. These were kind people, and they gave their trust so freely, accepting her at her word. They didn’t frighten her, and when the Doctor said she would be safe here, she believed him.

It would be so easy to say yes to it all, and to tell them the truth. They would forgive her her deception, she was certain. So why didn’t she do it? Why couldn’t she bring herself to tell them?

With creeping horror, she admitted to herself that she couldn’t betray him. She had given her word; he’d given her her life. The choice to serve had been hers, and it gave her something, a purpose. Without that, she couldn’t see what she had left.

When she woke, it was still daytime. She found her clothes and shoes in the bedside cabinet and dressed quickly. She was careful as she moved about, testing her muscles to see how extensive the damage was. There were dull aches throughout her body, but it was nothing that wouldn’t be sorted after a few days of rest, though she did not expect such a luxury.

Leto turned the door handle, and found it unlocked. Outside, there was a soldier. She smiled, surprised to find that they were not quite so lacking in caution as she had assumed.

“I’m sorry to bother you,” she said, “but I’ve been cooped up in bed for hours. I wondered if it would be possible to go for a walk?”

“I’m afraid not, Miss. But the Doctor did say to take you down to the lab if you got restless. This way.”

The Doctor greeted her with a friendly smile when she entered his laboratory, and Jo politely asked if she’d like a cup of tea. While she went to fill up the kettle, Leto sat down by the workbench, taking a closer look at what the Doctor was doing. She recognised the equipment, the set-up, it was almost exactly what the Master had worked with in the cellar.

Sitting right in front of the Doctor was the artefact itself.

“What is that?” she asked.

“That’s what I’m trying to find out,” he told her. “I don’t suppose you can remember anything about it?”

Leto shook her head. “I’m sorry; I’ve tried.” It wasn’t entirely untruthful, she knew nothing about what the artefact truly was.

“Here’s your tea,” said Jo, passing her a mug, then another to the Doctor. Leto accepted it gratefully, sipping at the milky liquid as the Doctor worked.

“What’s going to happen to the Master?” asked Leto.

“Prison, I should think,” the Doctor told her.

“They don’t execute criminals?”

“Not in this country, no. Not any more.”

Leto took another gulp of her tea. “Why does he want to kill you?” she asked.

The Doctor didn’t reply immediately. She watched him carefully, trying to guess what he was thinking. “We were friends, a very long time ago. Back then we seemed to want the same thing, but we disagreed about the means.”

She didn’t ask anything more, it was obvious it was not a topic he wished to discuss.

Instead she talked about the books she had read, and he seemed to appreciate her interest in Earth’s literature. Jo, too, had suggestions about what to read, though it seemed that the Doctor didn’t have the faintest interest in the sort of books she liked.

And if they believed that she would betray them, they made no sign of it. They were cautious, not mistrustful, but she needed more freedom if she were to help the Master to escape.

As it turned out, she didn’t have to.

“Good evening, Doctor.” The Master stood in the doorway to the lab, armed with a revolver. “Your UNIT friends really do have a lot to learn about security.”


	7. Seven

Leto carefully hid her relief; she glanced at Jo, saw how frightened she was and assumed a suitable expression.

“I suppose you’ll be wanting your equipment back,” said the Doctor.

“No, not at all. Consider it a gift. I would, however, like the artefact returned.”

Somewhere in the building an alarm sounded, and Leto heard booted feet running overhead.

“Looks like you’re a bit short on time.”

The Master smiled, stepped into the room and shut the door. “No, I don’t think so. I have three hostages. I very much doubt the Brigadier will wish to charge in, guns blazing. Right, now if you would be so kind as to give me the artefact, Miss Grant.”

“So what’s it for then?” asked the Doctor. 

“You don’t recognise it?” The Master took the artefact carefully from Jo’s hands, quickly pocketing it.

“Well, it is camouflaged.”

“You always did lack skill in the practical application of science, my dear Doctor.”

“If it’s still mimicking the Roman remains, then I’d say you haven’t had any success either.”

Leto barely listened to the argument, the exchange of barbs was clearly a familiar pattern to both parties. The Master had the artefact, he should leave, now, before he was discovered, but this Doctor did something to him. She remembered how efficient, how ruthless, how well-planned every step had been when he began to research a cure on her homeworld, but now so easily distracted by the Doctor. It must be what the Doctor wanted, of course, to give the soldiers enough time to locate their escaped prisoner, prevent him from leaving the building, and yet the Master indulged him. 

She looked round the room. More than one exit, and she doubted the windows were secure. There was even an open corridor to her left; an open corridor and, yes, there was someone there. She moved back against the wall, slipping back against the wall and trying to appear as innocuous as possible. It didn’t matter, both the Doctor and Master were far too concerned with each other to notice her movements.

“Well, Doctor, I think it is time we were leaving.”

The soldier moved into the laboratory, not quite far enough, and levelled his gun at the Master. “Not so fast, mate. You make one move and I’ll put a bullet in the back of your head.”

The Doctor smiled, satisfied, and the Master slowly put up his hands. “Ever punctual, Sergeant Benton,” he said.

“Right, now turn around. Slowly.”

The Master did as he was told, watched the Sergeant with a level gaze. He did not so much as glance at Leto. 

Either the Doctor and Jo had forgotten she was there, or they had dismissed her as a threat. They said nothing as Benton stepped into the room. 

It was far enough. Leto swept off the chair and gave a swift punch to the Sergeant’s neck. She wasn’t particularly strong, but she knew where to hit, and it seemed that human physiology was close enough to her own for the punch to still be effective. 

As he fell to the floor, the Master turned back to the Doctor and Jo, once more levelling the revolver at them. Leto picked up the sergeant’s gun, then grabbed some wiring from the workbench, quickly tying him up.

“Let’s go,” snapped the Master. As they left the lab, he kept the gun pressed against Jo’s back.

When they got outside, the Doctor called for the soldiers to stay back, and they made their way towards his strange yellow car.

Just once, he caught her eye, and she saw the disappointment and dismay in his face.  
_

They were back at the house. Undoubtedly UNIT had followed, at a distance, and it was only a matter of time before the Brigadier attempted to retrieve the hostages. The Master still had still equipment there, carefully hidden and untouched by UNIT.

He glanced up as Leto descended the steps into the cellar. “They’re secure,” she said. “And I would very much like to know why we are still on this planet.”

“Was that a demand?” He was irritated by her tone of voice, by her presumption.

“It isn’t safe; it isn’t secure. Why do you stay here?” 

He sighed but decided to answer. There was, after all, no reason not to tell her and for the moment he was satisfied that her allegiance to him was secure.

“Because there is a time-space lock on the artefact. Its creator was well aware of who might seek it out and wanted to make sure it did not fall into the hands of those too primitive to comprehend its power. If it enters the vortex still in this state it will be useless.” 

“But on my world…”

He interrupted her. “That piece had quite a different method of keeping its secrets. Now, please, I must concentrate. Keep a watch on those two upstairs and if anything turns up on the scanner let me know at once.”

-

Leto brought a cup of water from the kitchen to the hall where Jo and the Doctor were cuffed to the radiator. “I thought you might be thirsty.”

“Thank you,” said Jo, and Leto put the cup to her lips, tipping it gently so she could sip at it. Her bound hands did not give her enough freedom of movement to do it herself. When she had had had enough Jo nodded and Leto turned to the Doctor but he shook his head.

She turned to go, but the Doctor spoke. “Leto, why are you helping the Master?”

Her grip tightened on the cup, and she should have just kept walking. But something about the Doctor’s tone made her want to answer. She looked at him, but saw no accusation in his eyes, just a mild curiosity, and a sadness that cut at her.

She took a deep breath, and said, “If he hadn’t taken me from my world, I would have died. My obedience is the price of my life.” She walked towards him, crouched down so that her face was level with his. “You thought he was controlling me, but no, I know what he is, what he is capable of and I made my choice.”

“You don’t owe him anything,” said the Doctor quietly. “He destroyed your world.”

Leto shook her head. “He provided a catalyst, perhaps, but the seeds of destruction had been long planted. We accepted his help willingly; he cannot be held to account for what we chose to do with that knowledge.”

“And what did you do?”

She gave a tight smile. “He agreed to work on a cure for a plague that had infected my world. As proof of faith, he gave us something quite different; weapons far more destructive, more precise than anything we had yet created. But one particularly ambitious family decided to make free use of that knowledge. In their haste for power they bombed what they believed to be a hospital.” She paused, her eyes flicking away, steeling herself to finish. “It was in fact a bio weapons research plant. We created our own plague, Doctor, and then we let it loose.” 

“I’m sorry.”

“I don’t want your pity.”

“I’m not offering you pity. I’m offering to help you. You’ve suffered, you’re hurt, and I don’t believe that this is what you want to do.”

She stared at him, her face tight with anger. “Don’t presume to tell me want I want, Doctor.”

“The Master is using you.”

“I know that.”

“When he’s finished with you, he’ll kill you.”

“I know that too.”

He leaned towards her, as close as he could, looking into her eyes. “Leto, don’t you want your freedom?”

She stood up and stepped away from him. “To be honest, Doctor, I wouldn’t know what to do with it.”

The low buzz of an alarm distracted her from anything else the Doctor had to say. She ran to the kitchen, glanced out the window, but saw nothing incongruous and then turned to the scanner. UNIT were arriving and in no small numbers.

And then there was an explosion in the hall.

Leto flung herself to the floor, but there was no sound, no crumbling masonry falling around her. She realised that it hadn’t been an explosion at all but a tremendous release of light: bright, white and enough to blind her for a few seconds. 

She dashed out of the kitchen, past the Doctor and Jo - still disorientated - and down the stairs to the cellar. 

The Master was there, a triumphant expression on his face. He turned to her, holding what she assumed to be the artefact. It was beautiful now: like glass holding liquid light, colours swam through it and for an instant she thought she could make out symbols pressing against the surface, struggling to escape.

The Master noticed her then. “Success, Leto. Time for us to leave this wretched little world.”

She was still staring at the artefact, she had barely heard him but then she remembered, “UNIT are on their way.” 

He nodded. “Right then, time for the Doctor to make himself useful.”


	8. Eight

The curtains on the ground were drawn to prevent any sniper shots, but it would only be a matter of time before the Brigadier tired of waiting and stormed the house. 

Leto considered the Doctor to be a far more valuable hostage, but he was the one that the Master released. The cuffs were unlocked and as he stood up he exchanged a glance with Jo, just a moment, but Leto felt the comfort and strength that the young woman drew from that brief acknowledgement.

“Well?” demanded the Doctor, turning to the Master.

“You’re going to go back to your UNIT friends.”

“Buying you time?”

“Precisely, Doctor. And I expect you to do as you’re told, or Miss Grant will be the one to suffer.”

The Doctor glared at his adversary, but said nothing. The Master opened the door and invited the Doctor to leave the house. He pulled his velvet jacket straight and, with a final glance at Jo, stepped outside.

The Master turned to Leto. “Take one of the guns, and make your way out by the gardens. They’re overgrown enough to give you some cover. Create a distraction then make your way round UNIT’s vehicles as best you can. I’ll meet you there.”

“Right.”

Leto sped away, picking up her gun and darting out the kitchen door. There were no shots as she dived into the undergrowth. Staying perfectly still she counted away the seconds until a minute was up and then began to make her way towards the woods some hundred metres away.

For the first time since she had arrived on Earth she fully let down her mental shields and tried to sense where the soldiers were. The sting in her head was immediate, and she bit down on her lip to stop herself crying out. But she could feel them now; she knew where they were and she knew that if she moved carefully she could get to the cover of the trees without being detected.

Once past the tree line, she saw the first soldier and raised her gun, firing twice in quick succession. At least one of the bullets hit him and he went down. Leto moved on.

Her gunfire caused quite a commotion and whatever attention had been given to the Doctor’s departure from the house now focused on her. She increased her speed, circling through the trees as best she could, thankful that, though alien, these humans had minds she could sense.

She returned to the very edge of the woods, around her she heard the echo of minds and the shouting of orders; men running as they were hastily redeployed.

Too much noise, she thought, as she tried to see the best route to where most of the vehicles were.

Then there was another gunshot. And Leto didn’t realise that it had been aimed at her until she saw the blood spreading out across her clothes.

She tried to move, but her body refused to co-operate and she fell back against the trunk of a tree. 

Her eyes closed.

-

There was nothing to do in the cell and the boredom was beginning to grate. Her shoulder had been bandaged, but whatever painkillers Leto had been given were beginning to wear off and the ache was terrible.

She lay on a thin bunk, her eyes closed, trying to sleep.

“Good afternoon.” 

It was some time later, she didn’t know how long, but it was the Doctor and not another one of the humans whose questions she’d been studiously ignoring. Leto sat up, wincing a little as she shifted her weight.

“How long am I going to be kept here?” she asked.

“Until your trial, I expect.”

“Ah.” She nodded and stood, facing the Doctor, quite calm. “But they don’t kill their criminals.”

“No, but the soldier you shot died, and murder is still a very serious crime.” 

“What happened to him?” She didn’t need to say his name; the Doctor wasn’t stupid.

“Gone. With that artefact, whatever it was.”

“Good.”

The Doctor took a step towards the bars, his expression serious. “Leto, you are going to be on this planet for a long time, if you co-operated it would be easier for you.”

“I don’t know what the Master was doing.”

“I see.” The Doctor turned to go.

“Wait!” She approached the bars. “I really do not. But if I’m going to be locked up anyway…”

“…something more comfortable could be arranged. ”

“But only if I co-operate with you.”

The Doctor shook his head. “No, I’d try to convince the Brigadier anyway. But he’d be more amenable if you co-operated.”

Leto brushed a hand against her forehead, tucked her hair behind her ear, suddenly very tired. “I saw the artefact, as it really was. Just for a few seconds. And there were symbols. I don’t know what they meant, but I do remember what they looked like.” She reached a hand through the bars. “Let me show you, Time Lord.”

He took her hand, and still it was like he was some particularly convincing hallucination, but she sent the memory anyway. He closed his eyes, wincing in pain, and she let go. 

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean it to hurt.”

“No, I’m fine. It’s just been a long time since I’ve connected to another mind. I’m out of practice.” He frowned. “Yes, I recognise those symbols, an ancient dialect from the planet of Karn.” He frowned, eyes distant.

“What do they mean?” she asked.

“Kingmaker.”

-

_The next story in the series, Kingmaker, follows the Master as he discovers the secrets of the artefact._


End file.
